The Way of the Web: Ample Open Ends

Over the weekend I was catching up on back issues of The Marketing News and came across an article by Elisabeth Sullivan titled Delve Deeper: Online Research Developments to Understand Consumer Motivation. The article quotes Nora Ganim Barnes of UMass Dartmouth's Center for market research about the need to do better than traditional online feedback mechanisms.

"The last thing you want to do is have someone go to your web site and you say 'Click on this link' to provide feedback,' and you have a box pop up that's limited to 120 characters. That's cold, impersonal." She continues to say "...while online feedback surveys give customers the sense that they're throwing their opinions into the void, blogs provide a forum in which customers can interact with one another."

Throwing opinions into the void. I agree. Our (Invoke) research sessions simulate a live discussion experience so respondents feel like they are part of a group. It also provides ample opportunity for your customers to give structured open-ended feedback you can really use without requiring the huge investment of a community.

In the words of a recent research participant:

“I loved this 'way' of taking this survey. It's much more 'personal', and it shows that our answers and opinions are really being taken seriously, instead of just taking a survey that was sitting in your email inbox, and thinking 'do the survey host even care about or read all of my answers, or do they just read what sounds good to them' I like the personal touch to this”

Learn more at www.invoke.com.

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